Denim Cutoffs Can Be Dangerous, but Here's How to Look Chic in Them

If you know how to confidently wear denim shorts, and you aren't 16, then I have to congratulate you right away and offer you a big, virtual pat on the back. I didn't even know how to get away with them when I was in my teens, and now the denim mountain seems only harder to climb.

A few years ago, when Alexa Chung launched her first AG Jeans collection, I recall her saying that she had moved past the time where she felt they looked appropriate on her. Fortunately, she didn't follow that notion through, and she's now a prime example of how you can pull off cutoffs when you aren't at school and planning your weekend shenanigans at, I don't know, Wireless Festival.

Getting to grips with daisy dukes is like studying for The Knowledge. You're going to take some wrong turns here and there—they are one item that can easily look cheap, ill-fitting and consequently unflattering. But (butt?) we have solutions, and they come in the form of some recent street style sightings.